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U.S. Rep. Tipton defeats Pace

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton takes a call as he waits for results Tuesday at Two Rivers Convention Center. Tipton defeated Sal Pace.

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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., fended off a challenge from Pueblo Democrat Sal Pace on Tuesday to capture his second term.

Tipton, the owner of a pottery shop in Cortez, outdueled Pace, 55 percent to 40 percent, or 132,527 votes to 97,099. Unaffiliated candidate Tisha Casida collected 7,152 votes, or 2.95 percent, and Libertarian Gregory Gilman was close behind, with 5,269 votes, or 2.18 percent, according to returns posted by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

Unemployment will continue to be the major issue for the 3rd Congressional District, Tipton told more than 200 Republicans Tuesday night at Two Rivers Convention Center moments after they learned the presidential race had been called for Democrat Barack Obama.

“It’s incumbent on us to make sure that the next generation still has the American dream, the opportunity to achieve,” Tipton told the crowd.

In Mesa County, Tipton collected 38,876 votes, or 56 percent, more than double Pace’s 28 percent, or 16,332 votes. The remainder was split between Casida and Gilman.

The Farm Bill remains the top immediate priority of the lame-duck Congress, which also must take up the so-called “fiscal cliff” that call for a series of military spending cuts and tax increases aimed at deficit reduction.

With the president’s re-election, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will remain in place and the new Congress will have to deal with increments of the law, Tipton said.

Just as Congress eliminated provisions deemed burdensome on business, such as Form 1099 reporting, it will have to look to other aspects of the law to trim and massage, such as preserving individual health care accounts, making it possible for people to keep their physicians, and deal with tort reform. Tipton said.

He will reintroduce measures such as his small-conduit hydropower act, another requiring more planning for the development of domestic energy resources, and a measure aimed at giving the states greater authority to deal with hazardous conditions on the national forests within their borders.

“I do have some concern” that Congress will have to grapple with gridlock, just as it has since the Republicans took over the House while Democrats control the Senate and presidency, he said.

Tipton also called on the Senate to allow the process to work and take votes on measures that have won House approval. Senate measures also need to get votes in the House, he said.